Today’s Top Recruiting Trend: Social Recruiting

September 28, 2018

Using social media to recruit employees isn’t necessarily new but with Facebook’s Jobs Dashboard update and LinkedIn’s recently launched Talent Insights, social recruiting is heading to the next level. In fact, experts say that social recruiting in a trend that’s here to stay. So how do you use these tools to their highest capability and stay relevant, all while attracting the best talent? Follow our tips to stay on top of social recruiting.

Be Authentic & Share Your CultureToday’s job-seekers have greater access to information on employers than ever before. Most job seekers read six reviews before forming an opinion on a potential employer, making the way candidates explore job opportunities a new frontier for hiring managers. They put a higher value on cultural fit, employee diversity, and a sense of purpose and inclusion more than previous generations did.

As candidates increasingly seek employers that speak to their values, lifestyles and identity, employers must demonstrate their company culture in new mediums. Social recruiting is how employers brand themselves to potential employees. These channels represent the best opportunities to feature your current team members, their priorities and the experience of what it is like to work alongside them.

If your company has pronounced corporate social responsibility initiatives in place, social recruiting is a great way to find candidates who are passionate about giving back (often to similar causes). It is your best chance to present company culture in a way that conveys a corporate identity.

Use ALL the ToolsNaturally, when it comes to social media for business, LinkedIn is a key platform. Although your profile is a valuable tool for seeking out passive candidates, you cannot rely on it for your entire recruiting strategy. Hiring through LinkedIn is harder now than it used to be due to user privacy updates and premium recruitment services, but you can get better results without paying as much as LinkedIn charges by introducing campaign technology.

For instance, employers looking for very specific development skillsets often turn to GitHub to find individuals who contributed to specific projects and applications. Although GitHub has featured built-in recruitment tools since 2009, using them to find talent is neither smooth nor intuitive. But third-party tools like SeekOut can comb through GitHub for you.

Look Outside Standard Social Networks
While Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter are undoubtedly important, other social sites specific to employment, such as Glassdoor shouldn’t be ignored. Glassdoor is an incredibly useful tool for presenting your company to potential employees, and since it allows users to provide honest reviews, it has become the go-to site many candidates rely on while job searching. Be sure to address any negative feedback that former employees bring up on the platform, and start to use it as a guide for what can be improved.

While you’re trying to find passive candidates, don’t overlook niche social networks where your top candidates go to interact with colleagues, whether Opportunity, Meetup or Xing. If you’re looking in a certain industry, let’s say tech, be sure to find LinkedIn groups and forums in that industry and court passive candidates there.